Tully Blanchard v Tim Horner (JCP World Championship Wrestling, 1/3/87)
This match made me think about workrate. Or at least the term workrate and what it means now. Or what it MIGHT mean because honestly I'm not sure myself. And this probably sounds like a weird match to bring that term to the forefront of my mind, but it did all the same and mostly it was Tully. If you're taking workrate to literally mean the rate of work then Tully is a phenomenal workrate guy. He does not stop working. I guess the old talking point about headlocks and armbars and stuff is that they were "rest holds" and setting aside that that's pretty much nonsense, there are very few people who work holds like Tully, both from above as well as beneath. He's making other people work for things too, nothing given up easy or without a fight, always creating that sense of struggle. The first half of this, about eight minutes of a 16ish-minute match, was mostly Horner working the arm and controlling Tully. Or at least TRYING to control him because Tully was looking to escape and take shots and shortcuts whenever Horner gave him enough space. Horner tries to whip him from one corner to the other but Tully isn't satisfied and grabs a handful of hair to drag Horner to the mat, stumbles over into the other corner where Horner quickly follows up with a few strikes, THEN successfully whips Tully across to the buckles. Tully making him earn it made something fairly rudimentary feel significant. Before the match JJ puts up 10 grand of the Horsemen's money and even extends the TV title time limit to 25 minutes so you know before long he's sweating bullets on the floor, periodically pulling the wad of bills out his pocket and nervously counting them like a kid worrying about his Pokemon cards. Horner has lots of neat ways to drag Tully back into armbars and hammerlocks - a cool flying takedown, rolling through on a bodyslam to keep hold of the hammerlock, using the ropes to flip out of a wristlock and yank Tully back to the mat. Tully is the champ for a reason and always looks dangerous throwing body shots, short headbutts to the gut, pressing every advantage when he can. In the end it's his resourcefulness that wins out. I guess a handful of tights will work in a pinch. Horner got to look really strong and Tully going back for another bite after the bell shows how frustrated he was. Just solid pro wrestling all around.
Rick Rude v Robert Gibson (JCP Pro, 1/3/86)
I need to re-watch the Ragin' and Ravishing v Rock n Rolls series from '86. It's been a very long time. This would suggest there's still more to come in '87. It starts with Rude applying a headlock and shutting down Gibson the first couple times he tries to reverse it into a top wrist lock. Rude is too strong for a man with a mullet like that. On the third attempt Gibson just slips out the back and turns it into a hammerlock. Thus we establish that whatever Robert Gibson lacks in braun he more than makes up for in brains prolly. They do a leapfrog spot where Rude comes down selling the knee and I'd have bet my kidneys on it being a RUSE, but he actually plays it up the rest of the match which is sort of random but also very cool. Gibson working the leg is fine. Highlight of the match is the atomic drop where Rude sells the knee AND his buttocks. When Gibson hoisted him up for it I immediately hoped for a signature Rick Rude atomic drop sell while clutching the knee, and while he hadn't developed FULL Rick Rude atomic drop selling at this point he did indeed sell his butt and knee at the same time. If that's not worth three and one quarter stars I don't know what is.
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